Heart-Shaped Macarons

Instructions

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1. - Preheat the oven to 275°F. Prepare 2 cookie sheets by placing the printed heart macaron template on the pans and covering with parchment paper (note: remove patterns after piping batter hearts and before baking). Fit a 16 inch decorating bag with the round decorating tip 12.
2. - Sift confectioners' sugar and almond flour together into a medium bowl, discarding any bits of almond flour that are too large to pass through the strainer.
3. - In a large bowl, beat egg whites, cream of tartar and salt on high speed until foamy, then with the mixer running, slowly add the granulated sugar. When the mixture reaches soft peaks, add vanilla and color.
4. - Continue whipping just until stiff peaks form. You've reached stiff peaks when you can pull your beaters out of the bowl and the peaks remain upright.
5. - Gently pour the almond mixture over the whipped egg whites and fold in batches to avoid deflating your egg whites. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites until the mixture holds a 10 count. It's reached a 10 count when the batter falls from the spatula to the bowl and takes about 10 seconds to fully blend into the rest of the batter.
   • The mixture should be thick enough to pipe without running everywhere, but the peak at the top of each piped cookie will fall on its own, making a perfectly smooth cookie. This takes about 45 turns, but depending on how aggressively you fold, it can be more or less.
6. - Transfer the batter to the prepared decorating bag.
7. - Pipe 1 1/2 inch hearts of batter onto the parchment lined pans following the pattern outlines. Remove the heart pattern template papers before baking.
8. - Tap the pans hard on the countertop 4-5 times to release trapped air, and then let sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes or until the unbaked macarons form a skin and do not stick to your finger when touched. Allowing the macaron to crust over is what leads to their signature “feet,” which are the holey rings that arise during baking at the base of each cookie.
9. - Bake for 18-22 minutes on a shelf in the center of the oven. If baking 2 pans at a time on different oven racks, rotate the pans from bottom to top midway through baking.
   • There isn't a great visual on how long to bake a macaron. When underbaked, the centers can be wet. When overbaked, they start to brown slightly and become very crunchy instead of crisp on the top with a softer interior.
10. - Cool the macaron shells completely on a cooling grid before sandwiching with your chocolate ganache or other desired filling. Use edible color markers to write messages on the cookies.

Notes

Resources

How To

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